Page 104 of Shadow Queen
His brow creased in confusion. “Mine?”
She gave a small laugh. “Your name?”
“Oh, right. I, uh… Adrian,” he stumbled over his words. “My name is Adrian.”
She bit the bottom of her smile and folded the handkerchief over itself. “You should keep holding this, I think. The cut is deep.”
“Right,” he said, taking hold of the cloth against his brow.
She started across the burial grounds, and this time, he followed.
“You’re from Mercia?” she asked as they walked.
He gave her a smile. “What gave it away?”
“Are you in the army?”
“Not exactly.”
“Do you serve the queen?”
“Yes. Well, kind of. I mean, I’m not on the guard yet. I will be, though.”
She glanced at him, questioning. “Why are you here in Kharav, then?”
“My brother’s here. And I wanted to come see the notorious Shadowlands. Kharav, I mean,” he corrected himself. “And meet the lord commander.”
“Why?”
Adrian looked at her in surprise. “Because he’s a great warrior. And your kingdom is famed.”
“As is the North. And you have the Bear. He’s supposed to be a great warrior too.”
Adrian grinned. He hadn’t liked that they called Alecthe Bearinitially, but he’d come to like it. It was a name said with awe, and sometimes a little fear. “He is,” he said proudly. “The greatest.”
They reached the end of the burial grounds and came to a cobbled road, then took it until it joined another. Rows of houses stood tall against the late-afternoon sky. The homes were quite grand, grander than what was typically found in Mercia, even for nobles.
Sevina stopped in front of a large house with iron gates at the walk. “I’m glad you’re here, Adrian,” she said. Then she stepped up on her toes and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Thank you for walking me home.”
He grinned. “You’re welcome.”
She unlocked the gate and stepped inside, then closed it behind her.
“Sevina,” he said, making her pause. “Can I see you again?”
She looked back at the house hesitantly, then smiled. “I plan to go to my cousin’s tomorrow at midday, if you’d like to walk me.”
He’d walk across a hundred burial grounds to do that. “I’ll be here.”
“All right,” she said in a half whisper.
Adrian watched her as she walked to the house and slipped inside. Then he made his way back toward the castle, smiling to himself. He’d seen many women since coming to Kharav, and none were as he had expected. The army had female warriors, powerful women. Sevina was different. Not that he would have minded if she were a warrior—she would have been able to fend for herself, certainly, which Adrian would have liked. But Sevina was delicate and soft, and he liked that too.
When he reached the gates of the castle, the lord commander was waiting. “Lord Commander,” he said in surprise.
“Is she home?”
“Yes, my lord.”
